Nice Redfish.
Trout may be the hot ticket but redfish are still playing too.

1-3-2009 - Trout Bite on Fire!

It's that time of year again. Large number of large speckled sea trout have invaded Tarpon Springs, New Port Richey, and Clearwater. As of January 1st, trout season is open in both the North region and the South region. This is very helpful as it gives us many more options to hunt these snaggle toothed sea critters compared to when the season is only open in one region. Charters have been treated to limits of trout on half day trips. The limit on trout in Tarpon Springs and New Port Richey is 5 trout per person and South of Fred Howard park the limit is 4 trout per person. Trout must be between 15 and 20 inches except each angler may keep one trout over 20 inches. The hardest part has been finding fish small enough to keep. That's a fun problem to have though as large trout put up an exponentially better fight as they get over the 20 inch mark. The bait of choice has been large scaled sardines although when live bait has been scarce, we've had good luck using 4" gulp shrimp rigged on 1/8th ounce Slayer Inc. Lure Co. jig heads.

 

Redfish are out there and we are getting a few. The only problem is that we've been having a short window each day to fish for them. In the winter time here we have lower tides that we do the rest of the year and with our shallow estuary, it can make getting to the fish difficult. Days with higher tides have produced mid-upper slot redfish. They've been eating live greenbacks, and a variety of cutbait.

 

The trout bite should remain strong through the end of February although we will limited to fishing the South region (Palm Harbor, Dunedin, Clearwater) for the month of February. The redfish will still bite well on days with higher water. If redfish are what you're after, please contact Capt. Clay to discuss what days and times woul be best for them.

 

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Phone: 813.300.2147
Email: GoFishing@CaptainClay.com